Repeated tDCS over right DLPFC and response inhibition in soccer players (RCT, 2026)

• A randomized, triple-blind, sham-controlled trial enrolled 36 male soccer players into active tDCS, sham tDCS, or no-intervention control while continuing regular training.¹
• Active stimulation was 1.5 mA tDCS over the right DLPFC for 20 minutes, 5 days/week for 4 weeks; sham was 1 minute of 1.5 mA plus training; controls received training only.¹
• Pre/post assessment used a Go/No-go task with behavior and ERPs (including P3 amplitude/latency).¹
• After the intervention, only the active-tDCS group showed a statistically significant reduction in Go reaction time (per the summarized results).¹
• All participants held Chinese National Grade II Athlete certification or higher; groups were balanced at baseline on age (~21 years), height (~175 cm), weight (~70 kg), and training experience (~6 years), all P > 0.05; sample size was powered at 80% with Cohen’s f = 0.3.¹
• The anode electrode (5 × 7 cm, 35 cm²) was placed at the F4 site (10–20 system) for right DLPFC targeting; the cathode was placed on the contralateral shoulder; stimulation was delivered offline (~1 h before regular training), with 30-s fade-in/fade-out ramps.¹
• Go RT reduction in the active group was 45.39 ms (pre 433.84 ± 6.05 ms → post 415.87 ± 6.24 ms; p = 0.002, 95% CI [18.16, 72.64]); active group was significantly faster than no-intervention control at post-test (difference 43.82 ms, p = 0.021); sham and control groups showed no significant RT change.¹
• Go-trial P3 amplitude increased by 1.85 μV in the active group (P < 0.001; vs. sham at post-test: +1.73 μV, P = 0.027); No-go P3 amplitude increased by 2.62 μV (P < 0.001), with the largest effect at Cz (6.60 ± 0.42 μV) consistent with inhibitory processing.¹
• Go-trial P3 latency shortened by 18.02 ms (P < 0.001) and No-go P3 latency shortened by 14.58 ms (P < 0.001) in the active group only; the No-go latency reduction was maximal at Cz (32.00 ms, P < 0.001); neither sham nor control showed significant ERP changes.¹
• Accuracy on Go and No-go trials did not change in any group (all P > 0.05), indicating the tDCS effect was specific to response speed and neural efficiency rather than error correction; Bang’s Blinding Index was near zero (active: 0.08; sham: −0.08), confirming adequate blinding.¹
• Adverse effects were minor: 4 active and 3 sham participants reported mild transient itching/tingling at the electrode site during early sessions; no severe discomfort or discontinuations occurred; trial registered at ChiCTR2500109387 (Jiangxi Normal University ethics; IRB-JXNU-PEC-2025013).¹
• The findings align with a broader meta-analytic literature showing that moderate-intensity tDCS (1.6–2.0 mA, 16–20 min) targeting prefrontal cortex yields the largest sport-performance benefits, and with soccer-specific studies showing prefrontal tDCS can shorten decision times and improve cognitive efficiency when repeated across a training block.²

Footnotes

1. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2026.1738168 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12898586/ ↩